252 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JouRNAL. [1 APRIL, 1900 
formation of hailstones within clouds was due mainly to the action of electric ' 
It was inferred that if lightning-conductors were erected from distance OF 
tance in the fields they would attract the electricity from the clouds an 
check the formation of hailstones. 
Unfortunately, the results did not bear out those anticipations. 
The question, however, is not yet considered incapable of solution, Feil 
judging from a few articles which have appeared in the Gazette de Lausan a 
give a most interesting account of a Congress of Vinegrowers held recen y fie 
Casale Monferrato (Italy), with the object of studying hail and hailstorms, 
is probably the first congress of its kind, and comprised accredited delegates’ * 
nearly all the vinegrowing countries of Europe. iat 
It appears that as far back as 1880 an Italian savant, Professor Bombit 4 
of Bologna, had formulated the theory, founded on numerous observations,” 
showers of rain were most frequent in those places where gun practice i 
the air and filled it with smoke. He concluded from it that it was poss! Loe 
act artificially on the clouds and cause, so to say, the preventive abort? ~ 
those which are loaded with hail. ; 
cai 
Leaving aside the well-known unsuccessful American experiments ae 
had in view the artificial production of vain ina cloudless sky, we may 5 oi 
say that Professor Bombicci’s inferences were made use of for the first ae et 
1896 in Styria (Austria), where a progressive vinegrower, Burgomister >t ‘f 
started shooting with cannons against the approaching storm clouds. This} ain 
he went about it. . He first established shooting stations on the hills gure 
his vineyards at an altitude of from 300 to 800 yards. At every station * ded 
from five to six mortars in a wooden hut, so that shooting could be proc? nti 
with even during rain.» His.mortars weigh about 160 lb. each, with a Sage on 
meter chamber. They are 18 inches long. He loads them with about ting 
of miner’s powder. “As soon as suspicious clouds appear, he starts i 
towards them, and, behold! under the action of the sound waves, the Ochs 
either disappear or come down in the form of heavy downfalls of rai” asl) 
contended that Mr. Stieger’s vineyards, which had up to then been res oot 
devasted by hail, became’ suddenly immune against it. This example was hall 
followed by his neighbours; and now the province of Styria has fitty-mine ~~ 
preventing gun stations covering an area of 110 square kilometers. pet 
, ‘ y if 
‘<" An ‘Italian who had visited those installations was so much struck b y 
results that he introduced on his return the system in Italy, and now there © 
in Northern Italy alone 950 of those hail-preventing stations. 
__ All the speakers at the Congress bore testimony to the wonderful vi 
obtained by means of that gun-and-mortar shooting. In the Italian Dib ilst 
of Bergasno, the protected area suffered only to the extent of 7 per cont the 
in the surrounding unprotected area the damage reached 80 per cent. mr; 
total crops. i Be 
__ The following conclusions and recommendations haye been unanime™ 4 
adopted by the Congress :— ; oie 
1. The stations shall be so established as to form a first gun line Tine 
side where the storms usually come from. Other paralle! “eve 
at least 
rest 
kilometers (14 miles) from each other. — 1,098 
2. On the lines themselves the guns should be about one kilomete? es 
yards) apart. ; te 
3. For every group of stations one of them should be appointed to e 
_ the signal of firing. nit 
4. When signalled, the other stations shall start firing too, althous ye 
might appear to them unnecessary to do so. i the 
. The firing should begin when the storm clouds are about ee 
zenith (overhead), j “ 
Cr 
